


Farewell, Oppy

by rebelmeg



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bot fic, Feels, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Iron Dad and his Science Sons - Freeform, Opportunity Rover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 16:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17870933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelmeg/pseuds/rebelmeg
Summary: Tony and his Science Sons are crushed to hear the news about Oppy, so they plan a funeral.  And maybe, someday, a rescue?





	Farewell, Oppy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kimannhart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimannhart/gifts).



> This is a gift fic for [kimannhart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimannhart), who won a fic from me as part of a Valentine's Day event in the WI Discord!
> 
> My wonderful beta was the fabulous [SierraNovembr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SierraNovembr)!

Peter found out first.

All three of them, Tony and his two science sons, followed the different projects and missions that came out of NASA with great interest, keeping up on various social media platforms, watching footage, and regularly trawling the internet for anything they missed. Tony had loved space as a kid, wanted to be an astronaut for awhile there, and if he hadn’t been so involved with SI, it might have been a reality for him.

But as it stood, he got to watch as Peter and Harley shared the same excitement and passion as he did, watching documentaries and movies together, going on endlessly about what they hoped NASA would do next. All the different space probes and robots were unarguably their favorites, which showed in their relationships with Dum-E and U. Bots were just best.

So when Peter came into the lab, his eyes red with tears, and told Tony and Harley in a quavering voice about the Opportunity Rover… it was a blow to all of them. The last they had heard, back in the summer, was that the rover would likely have communication difficulties what with the seasonal storms on Mars. To hear that NASA had declared the mission over felt something like a death knell.

Tony had hugged Peter while the kid sniffled and tried not to cry, and Harley consoled Dum-E and U while he blinked hard.

“Is there anything we can do, Mr. Stark?” Peter had asked, and Tony wished more than anything that he could have said yes.

“To fix her? No. But if it would help, maybe we can find a way to say goodbye.”

“Like… a closure kind of thing?” Harley asked, his eyes a little red-rimmed as he petted the bots with both hands.

“Yeah. Something like that.”

* * *

The next day, Tony affixed modified black armbands to Dum-E and U’s struts, then stood back to take a look. It was kinda hard to tell the armbands were there, but it was the thought that counted, and his bots were in mourning too. They had been droopy and mopey ever since the news had come out, going about their duties with far less enthusiasm than normal.

Tony had been the same, really. It was no secret that bots held a special place in his heart, so knowing that one had essentially died, and left a haunting goodbye message, tore him up inside. He wished that there was indeed something he could do, a suit he could send rocketing to Mars to dust off Oppy’s solar panels, fix whatever needed fixing to get that bot back on her wheels and trundling around through red soil again.

But he couldn’t, not right now, and not anytime soon, so this was the next best thing.

The door pinged when Harley and Peter arrived, looking subdued, carrying flowers and a metal tool chest the size of a shoe box.

“Hey genius kids. You ready?”

They both nodded, trading the flowers and box for black armbands. Once they were all ready, they stood in a circle around the open box, bots too, and took turns putting their items they had brought for a memorial into the box.

Peter had a poster, Oppy’s first self-portrait from Mars, carefully folded up, but with pin marks in the corners. It had clearly been pinned up in his room, possibly for years, and he sniffled when he placed it in the box. 

Harley carefully put a small, fist-sized metal model of the Opportunity rover in the box, little flecks of dust still clinging to the edges of the metal after it had obviously been dusted off for this occasion.

U’s contribution nearly had Tony sobbing, and it was clear his bot had collaborated with Harley on it. It was a little metal model of Oppy’s twin, the Spirit rover, identical to Opportunity model Harley had put in.

FRIDAY provided context for it as U settled the models side by side. “U doesn’t want Oppy to be alone.”

That sent Peter over the edge, the tears that had been gathering in his eyes finally spilling over. Harley, whose eyes were red but not yet teary, scooted closer and bumped shoulders with him.

Dum-E was next, and he put in a flashlight, a battery, and a cleaning rag, putting the items in the box with slow and careful movements.

“That’s a good idea, bud.” Tony petted Dum-E’s strut. “An emergency kit, huh?”

The bot beeped sadly, clicking his gripper claw, and scooted back next to U.

“Your turn, Tony.” Harley said, looking expectantly at him, obviously having noticed Tony’s empty hands.

Tony nodded, heading across the lab to where he’d put his contribution for safekeeping. He pulled the large sheet of paper out of its protective folder, and turned it so they could see. He’d been up most of the night doing it, sketching out and then inking over the specs for Oppy. 

Peter’s voice, thick with tears, was still impressed. “Wow, Mr. Stark. You drew that?”

“Yep. Drafting is an important skill for an engineer.” Tony motioned for Harley to help him, and they folded up the draft carefully, making the corners even and smoothing the creases. Tony put it in the metal box, on top of Peter’s poster, then closed the lid and snapped the clasps shut.

“That’s it, then.”

“What do we do with it?” Harley asked, scrubbing at his eyes with his hand.

“Up to you two. We can bury it outside, like a time capsule sort of thing. Or we can incinerate it, scatter the ashes. Or I can rig something up to send it into space.”

It was comical, the way two heads and two robot arms shot up at his last suggestion, and Tony chuckled despite himself. “Okay, I can take a hint. I’ll get to work on that. In the meantime,” He put his hand on the lid of the metal box. “FRIDAY, if you would.”

A 3D projection of the Opportunity Rover showed up before them, and the beginnings of _“I’ll Be Seeing You”_ by Billie Holiday came over the speakers.

“Now is the time for words, if you have any.”

Harley shifted forward and placed his hand on the box next, sniffling. “Farewell, Oppy. Have a good sleep.”

Tony noticed the way the kid’s eyes were suspiciously wet, and nonchalantly handed over a tissue. He was feeling choked up himself, to be honest.

Peter was looking at the projection and looking distinctly misty-eyed as the music played quietly. “I don’t even know what to say.” 

Tony put an arm around his shoulders, and the other around Harley. “That’s alright, bud. Words aren’t required.”

“I’m just really sad that there’s nothing they can do.”

“I know, Spider-kid. Me too.”

* * *

The rocket left a sizeable crater in the ground as it streaked upwards through the sky a week later, but Tony didn’t bat an eyelash at it. He’d rigged the rocket with enough power to get up through the atmosphere, with another jolt to get it moving through space and out of the earth’s orbit.

Where it would end up was anyone’s guess.

Peter and Harley’s faces were tipped up as well, watching the rocket go higher and higher, carrying its sentimentally precious cargo.

Harley spoke up after a bit. “You think they’ll ever go get her? Oppy, I mean? Or is she gonna be stuck up there forever, all alone?”

Tony shrugged, stretching his neck from side to side to unkink it from staring upwards for so long. “I dunno, kid. Maybe I’ll give NASA a poke. See if they want to collaborate on anything.”

Peter’s eyes were huge, and he looked at Tony with something like awe. “Do you think they’d let you make a bot to go rescue Oppy? And Spirit too?”

Tony grinned as he ruffled Peter’s hair, then Harley’s. “I don’t know. Just might. We’ll see. You two wanna be in on it if they do?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the explosion of enthusiasm that greeted that suggestion. Apparently he’d be making a call to NASA. At some point in the future, they had a bot to save.


End file.
